Category: Justice League

Episode 17 covers the latest movie news from Indiana Jones 5 to Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindewald, and Shazam to Antman and The Wasp! We talk TV shows as well, such as The Runaways and Colony Season 2. We briefly cover The Dresden Files books 4-6. So join Random Angst and your hosts – The Credulous Nerds, Justin and Marc, as we talk anything and everything nerdy!

The Digital Copy and Blu Ray for Justice League is coming soon! Digital copy release is February 13th, and the Blu Ray/DVD release date is March 13th (no word on VHS yet…). I’m looking forward to the deleted scenes to hopefully enhance this movie to help it reach the potential it had before studio execs got involved to trim it down to 2 hours. I’m thinking it will be more Suicide Squad than Dawn of Justice, but anything to enhance the story is something I’ll be happy about whether it’s only 10 mins or hopefully 30 mins.

I’ll be getting the Target exclusive DigiBook edition (see above) to match the previous DC Movie DigiBook releases I’ve purchased in the past. The Best Buy exclusive steelbook version looks pretty sweet too. Interesting enough, Target has it listed on their website as Justice League part 1 (at least at the time of this post) which is probably an error, but I sure hope there’s some amazing surprise and that’s a leak. But, probably not.

Random Angst Podcast Episode 12 is up for your listening enjoyment!! Check out the new episode and let us know what you think!
Join us for Episode 12 as we talk about Salt Lake Comic Con vs San Diego Comic Con and who owns the words Comic Con? We also talk about the upcoming Marvel movie, Avengers Infinity War and who has the last Infinity Stone? We also rehash Justice League and how WB dropped the ball on this movie. Marc and I talk Star Wars Episode 8 The Last Jedi and what our predictions for this movie are, a few days before we actually see the movie. #StarWars#JusticeLeague#SaltLakeComicCon#Avengers

Our latest podcast, Episode 11, is now live! Check it out on your way to work or while you work – and let us know what you think! We talk about the new Justice League movie and what we thought of it – our likes and dislikes (Spoilers are present).
We talk about Brandon Sanderson’s latest novel – Oathbringer! We are still reading, so it’s a spoiler free review as we discuss our initial thoughts on the story so far.
We also discuss the newest Marvel Netflix series, The Punisher, and how that is capturing our interest despite the negative reviews.
We also go way back to 1984 and talk The Terminator and how with the rumblings of a new Terminator movie, how the franchise is doing and do we really need a new movie?
So give us a listen and let Random Angst know what you think!

Spoilers for Justice League are in this post! Don’t read if you haven’t seen the film yet.

With the recent release of Justice League, I’ve had a lot of thoughts about Justice League and Batman vs Superman and how they can’t be dismissed lightly because of how layered the films and the overall story are:

First of all, we can’t take the plot of these films too lightly. If you think Justice League is about the Justice League defeating the alien threat of Steppenwolf and his parademons, then you should go rewatch the film again (I say rewatch it anyways, cause it’s such a great film), as this is the secondary plot of the movie. The primary plot of Justice League is really about the formation of the team and the individual team members having to learn how to come together and unite to form an unbeatable force (it’s all right in front of us in the marketing of the film). They all have a personal journey to make, and they have to overcome their fears and doubts before they can begin to trust each other and work together. This is illustrated to us very well in the beginnings of the film as Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince contact the different metahumans, Barry Allen, Arthur Curry, and Victor Stone. The names of these three and others were given to Bruce by Amanda Waller as shown to us in the Oscar winning film – Suicide Squad, which occurred in between Dawn of Justice and Justice League.

We are also shown how invincible Steppenwolf is as he is able to easily overcome the individual forces, the Amazonians, the Atlanteans, and Man to obtain the Motherboxes. It isn’t until the League is able to unite and work together that they are able to defeat him, and even then they need some “super” help (sorry, couldn’t help myself. lol). We see how, without Superman, Earth is doomed and the inhabitants of Earth would be unable to defeat Steppenwolf. The League has to learn how to work together to bring Superman back and they all played a part in bringing him back with the help of one of the Motherboxes. It isn’t until Superman is fully back and unites with the League that Steppenwolf can be defeated and sent packing.

Some have thought that Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice only showed us 15 mins (or whatever it ended up being) of Superman and Batman actually fighting, if so – then you need to rewatch the film. Batman versus Superman starts in the Prologue of the film when Batman witnesses firsthand the destruction of Metropolis and he sees Superman and Zod destroying Metropolis and he decides Superman is dangerous and he then starts his quest to destroy Superman. The whole movie is Batman/Bruce Wayne’s machinations to destroy Superman.

Having Lex Luthor behind the scenes pulling the strings to drag Batman further down into the darkness is icing on the cake for this film. While Batman is distracted by figuring out a way to defeat Superman, the real villain, who is Lex, ultimately unleashes a devil to destroy a god, in which he eventually succeeds. Lex is aware that in defeating Superman he can bring in true chaos to the world by way of the Motherboxes. The effects of Lex’s plan is dealt with in Justice League, which in turn makes that last end credit scene in Justice League more meaningful and it isn’t just eye candy.

Lex would’ve triumphed except for he forgot the one thing that trumps everything and can’t be quantified- Love. Especially the love a son has for his mother, and how some men would do anything to protect their mother. He was counting on Clark Kent’s love for his mother to manipulate him into defeating Batman, but he overlooked Bruce’s love for his long dead mother. Maybe he thought Bruce was too far down the dark path and couldn’t be redeemed because of the crimes he had committed. Bruce Wayne became Batman because of the love he had for his mother and father. But he had lost sight of this over the past couple of years due to the darkness of Gotham. He was becoming the type of person he had initially set out to protect people from. Clark’s love for his mother broke through this darkness and reminded Bruce of why he became Batman in the first place. He became Batman to protect the Martha and Thomas Wayne’s of the world.

With Clark Kent speaking the name of “Martha” and to “save Martha” this snapped Bruce back to what he was all about in the first place and he also realized the being in front of him was more like him than he realized. He saw a chance to do what his pre-teen self couldn’t do – “save Martha”. He saw that Clark cared just as much for his mother and that his last dying breath was for someone to save his mother regardless of what happened to him. This is why he was willing to spare Superman and go save Martha Kent while Clark went to deal with Lex. Thus the beginning of the Justice League and you can say the Dawn of Justice.

There has been a lot of controversy about the DC Cinematic Universe over the past couple of years. Critics love to bash the movies, while a lot of fans enjoy the movies and defend them almost to a fault. The recent release of Wonder Woman in June 2017 was a breath of fresh air for both critics and fans alike and they were able to come to an consensus that Wonder Woman was a great movie. Naturally, after a couple of months the attention shifted to the release of Justice League. The big question was if Justice League would follow in Wonder Woman’s footsteps, or go the way of Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (however, full disclosure: I loved Dawn of Justice).

I’m here to tell you, Justice League is more Wonder Woman than Dawn of Justice. Justice League addresses all the complaints that critics had about previous DC movies and “fixes” them, plus a lot more!

Justice League starts out with the world mourning the death of Superman and it’s revealed that there is a looming threat (the one that Lex Luthor warned Batman about of at the end of Dawn of Justice) that is quickly coming. Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince have to assemble a team to fight this upcoming threat – so they begin to form the Justice League.

Bruce Wayne/Batman has softened a bit since Dawn of Justice and carries with him the guilt over the death of Superman. He is more hopeful than he has been recently and is trying to right his wrong by preparing to defend Earth from the oncoming threat. He is more relatable to the audience than he was in the last movie. Ben Affleck is great as The Batman and I hope he sticks with the character and decides to be in the upcoming Batman trilogy.

Diana Prince/Wonder Woman is so fun to watch and she continues to be a breath of fresh air for DC and for the superhero movie genre as a whole. She has her own angst to work through and has to decide if she wants to be a leader of superhero’s or not. The scene in the Batcave hangar between her and Bruce Wayne with the rest of the team watching, is one of the most emotional scene and is a pivotal moment in the movie. (the other emotional moment, and the best non action scene being ******. Ooops – I can’t say because it involves a major spoiler scene, and it is sooo good! But you’ll know it when you see it. I teared up at that moment.)

The introduction of Arthur Curry/Aquaman, Barry Allen/The Flash, and Victor Stone/Cyborg to the DC Cinematic Universe is so fun to watch! They each bring a new dynamic to the movie. They each have their own unique abilities and these abilities and personalities are fun to watch as they learn how to interact and trust one another as they are thrown together to save Earth.

Victor Stone is a great addition to the Justice League and is one of the lesser known and newer members of the Justice League. He earns his place on this team and I can’t wait for his story to be expanded upon in the future.

Barry Allen is engaging and brings the wide eyed, new kid on the block feel to the franchise. He has some great moments in the film and is a vital part to the Team.

Arthur Curry brings the coolness to this movie and is great to watch on screen (in more ways than one – right ladies?) as well. My only complaint is that the movie seemed too short and wished they could’ve fleshed out Aquaman’s story a little more, but with the next DC movie release being Aquaman, I’m sure they decided to do it in the upcoming movie.

The villain, Steppenwolf, is an ancient enemy of Earth and in the movie it is explained how long ago he attempted to invade Earth but was repelled by the Amazonians (Wonder Woman’s people), the Atlanteans (Aquaman’s people), and the tribes of man. With the death of Superman, Steppenwolf receives word of this (again, something shown in Dawn of Justice) and knows that he is in the clear to try and invade Earth once more.

The movie focuses on the formation of the Justice League and the invasion of Steppenwolf and his forces. There is a lot of action as you would expect from a superhero movie. There are some emotional moments in the film that humanize our heroes and make them more relatable and enjoyable to watch. There is humor as well, thankfully not as obnoxious or over the top as the Marvel movies (most annoyingly Thor 3 and Guardians of the Galaxy 2).

I wholeheartedly recommend this movie and I enjoyed it from start to finish. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll be amazed at the action you see on the screen as our childhood icons team up on-screen for the first time to fight evil.

I give it an A-, 9 out of 10, 4.5 out of 5.

*There are two after credit scenes worth staying for – one humorous one a couple minutes into the credits, and a very cool one at the end. They’re not like the Marvel after credit scenes where they’re silly and don’t really have a point.

Watertower Music has released the first tracks from the Justice League Motion Picture Soundtrack by Danny Elfman. The first track is titled “Hero’s Theme” and the second is “Friends and Foes”. While Hero’s Theme is a new composition, Friends and Foes does contain hints from John Williams iconic Main Theme from 1978’s Superman The Movie. Random Angst is hoping that Danny Elfman also includes themes from previous DC movies and is able to weave them into his original compositions. I think that having this musical continuity is key to tying in previous films and stories recently released by WB and DC. Rupert Gregson-Williams was able to do it with the Wonder Woman soundtrack in a satisfying way, so he was able to show that it can be done and be done well.

Stay tuned for more releases and the entire soundtrack can be pre-ordered now and will be available on November 10th, 2017 (per iTunes).

Watertower Music has also released the titles for the 2-Disc soundtrack.

You can currently stream or buy these two songs on iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, and other digital music services.

UPDATE: As of today, Oct 30, 2017, Friends and Foes is no longer available to stream or buy (at least via iTunes). My speculation is that it will be released as a single sometime over the couple of weeks prior to the film release in the theaters. Then it will be available once the album is fully released on November 10, 2017.